Nikolas Wallenda

Nikolas Wallenda, known as Nik Wallenda born January 24, 1979 at Sarasota, Florida.

He began performing with his family at the age of two. He belongs to the seventh generation of the Wallenda Family.

He began walking wire at the age 4.

His first professional wire performance was at the age of 13.

At the age of 19, Nik participated in the re-creation of Karl Wallenda's seven-person pyramid on the highwire in Detroit, Michigan by his father.

The Wallendas' zest for living life on the line has been passed down from generation to generation - over 200 years. It all started with great-grandfather, Karl Wallenda.

Nik Wallenda - Marriage

In 1999, Wallenda proposed to his future wife Erendira, on bended knee on a wire 30 feet (9.1 m) high during a performance.

Nik says about this "Everybody climbed down," he said. "I stayed up on the wire. My girlfriend was in the audience. I walked to the middle of the wire, knelt and asked her to marry me in front of 25,000 people." His girlfriend, Erendira, said "yes," and now they have three children, - Yanni, Amadaos and Evita.

Wallenda and his wife own and operate Wallendas Inc., a premier entertainment company.

Nik as a Highwire Entertainer

Upon establishing himself as a highwire entertainer, In 2001, he appeared at Japan's Kurashiki Tivoli Park in a family troupe that set the Guinness World Record for an eight-person pyramid on the high wire.

The Wallendas first came to America in 1928 at the behest of John Ringling. Legend goes, their net was lost in shipping, so they worked netless 55 feet high in Madison Square Garden. After the act, they heard yelling. The Wallendas thought they would be fired on the spot. Instead, they were given a 15-minute standing ovation. "They never used a net from then on," said Wallenda.

"It's about carrying on the legacy and doing something I love and have a passion for," Wallenda said.

'Mother and Son'

Nik's mother, Delilah, probably, is his biggest fan. He uses suede-leather shoes, his mother makes for him, which doesn't become slippery when wet, and it become stickier with moisture.

In 1978, when Nik planned to walk by himself across a 300 foot long wire, but his mother convinced him to let her join him on the fatal stunt.

Initially he rejected a request by his mother, Delilah wallenda, to join him, "Just because of safety, "we have lost several family members doing this. But Delilah wallenda, who is in her late 50s, eventually won over him.

He said: "I have mentally prepared my entire life for this. I have seen the great video of my great grandfather falling hundreds of times."